


The Invisible Tomorrow

by Moondal



Category: Merlin (TV), unOrdinary (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Gen, M/M, Mentions of Violence, Merlin unordinary au, Pre-Slash, mostly an experiment and setting exploration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:47:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29017629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moondal/pseuds/Moondal
Summary: Merlin tries not to think of Ealdor while he’s awake.
Relationships: Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	The Invisible Tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> Merlin unOrdinary au. 
> 
> This is mostly just playing around and sort of setting up the scene for Merlin if I decide to make this longer.
> 
> You don’t have to have read unOrdinary to understand this (though it’s amazing), you should just know the general premise, which is basically this is a society of people with powers and their eyes glow when they use them. If you want to read unOrdinary, know that this story contains a few spoilers, specifically Ep. 54 and Ep. 185.
> 
> Warning for unbeta’d.
> 
> Neither Merlin nor unOrdinary belong to me.

Merlin tries not to think of Ealdor while he’s awake. 

During the day he runs through his usual routine, going to school at Camelot, keeping his head down, and doing his best to be ignored. 

He doesn’t succeed. 

Camelot has a reputation as a school of both high academic achievement and strong abilities, and Merlin with a lack of both, sticks out more than an ink splot on blank paper. Every day is a barrage of fights he doesn’t start, of punches, bruises, and broken bones received for looking the wrong way or stumbling into the wrong person. Every day demands a reminder of the hierarchy that rules Camelot, of those of higher tiers that need to impose their will upon those weaker than them, and Merlin, at the bottom of the barrel, receives the brunt of it all. He resists the best he can, ducks the punches he can avoid, blocks the ones he can’t, and runs away if he can. Merlin doesn’t obey the rules of the hierarchy that demand that he cower and beg for mercy from his tormentors. Merlin angers them, makes them lose focus and use their abilities on someone that should be beneath them, because every fireball, every laser, every use of superspeed puts them directly in the wrong for having needed to use their so-called superior ability to deal with a _cripple_. 

It doesn’t do anything to stop anyone from coming after him, and it doesn’t do anything to stamp out the temptation that rises in him at every glow of someone’s eyes to _do something_ (and sometimes he can’t resist because it gets to be too much and he just needs something, a little tiny break and he looks down and _freezes_ everything and almost immediately hates himself for it), but it satisfies the part of his soul that needs a constant reminder of all the ways the hierarchy is _wrong_.

And at least he’s stopped getting his ribs broken on the daily. 

***

Every visit to the nurse is a sigh and judgmental eyebrow from Gaius as he hands over a healing tincture, and a visit from Arthur, dear Arthur, with his “ _Mer_ lin you idiot’s” and always asking why doesn’t Merlin just _stay out of their way_. Merlin never answers him, doesn’t tell him that it wouldn’t matter even if Merlin tried. The result would be the same: Merlin in the nurse’s office with broken bones. 

Arthur can’t understand. He’s never been at the bottom in his entire life, he’s never had to fight for any reason, born into his power as he was. As the scion of the illustrious Pendragon family, the hierarchy formed around him and placed him unthinkingly at the top, for how could it do otherwise? Arthur, who is strong enough to have the privilege to write off the hierarchy entirely. Arthur, who is strong enough to remain unchallenged in his power even as he rejects the position of King and leaves it to Mordred. Arthur doesn’t understand the chain of bullying that funnels out to the bottom, to Merlin, doesn’t understand that so long as the hierarchy exists and so long Merlin remains at the bottom, the endless bullies will never lose interest. 

Even if Arthur could understand, even if Arthur had been born with no ability and existed at the very bottom of the hierarchy, Merlin would never tell him, would never do anything to compromise this already fragile friendship that exists between them after only a year. Arthur’s fascination with Merlin confuses everyone, including Merlin himself, because it doesn’t _make sense_. Arthur has one of the strongest abilities ever recorded, and Merlin is, for all intents and purposes. completely powerless. Merlin should exist far below Arthur’s notice, and yet it is Arthur who seeks out Merlin, who drags Merlin up to the roof with him to skip class and eat lunch, who protects Merlin the best he can.

Arthur doesn’t make sense. 

In the year he’s known Merlin, Arthur’s changed dramatically from the entitled prat demanding the last slice of chocolate cake. Arthur chooses playing phone games on the rooftop over going to class, chooses eating lunch with Merlin over taking his expected position as King, chooses to defend those who can’t defend themselves instead of participating in the expected cycle of bullying. Of course Arthur being Arthur means that existing outside the system has very different consequences for him than Merlin. Certainly no one will ever attempt to put Arthur in his place, because Arthur as the strongest has ensured that no one will do that. Where Merlin has to study on end to get passing grades, Arthur effortlessly excels in his classes even as he skips them more than he goes. Merlin doesn’t hate Arthur for his privilege, even though he is envious of the way in which Arthur is left alone. Because for all that Arthur will bluster and repeat the words of superiority fed into him since birth, his actions tell a different story. His actions demonstrate a willful rebellion against what he was born into. 

And Merlin loves him for it. 

And it is because Arthur is like this, so willing to overthrow the system he was raised to lead because it compromises his internal beliefs, so willing to take this position as an outsider because of Merlin, that Merlin can’t _won’t_ tell Arthur about his past. He won’t risk the burden of Arthur’s judgment upon him, instead choosing to turn away and look down so that his eyes don’t give him away when he saves Arthur from tripping down the stairs. Because where Arthur is brave in all the ways that matter, Merlin is a coward.

***

So there in the nurse’s office, Merlin deflects Arthur’s questions and distracts him by asking about whatever his newest obsession is, listens to Arthur’s lecturing about the virtues of football or chess or whatever strategy game his ability allows him to instantly excel at has captured his interest at the moment. It’s in these moments that Merlin can forget about the hierarchy, forget his guilt over the fact that every day he lies to Arthur, and instead pretend that he’s a normal person with a normal friend and no emotional baggage to go with any of it. Because it’s in these moments that abilities don’t matter, and they are simply two friends enjoying each other’s company.

Arthur is the one that unknowingly strengthens Merlin’s resolve, that allows him to go through this self imposed daily penance when he could easily end it all with a glow of his eyes. Because it’s in these moments in the nurse’s office that Merlin gets a glimpse of what he desires most.

 _Absolution_.

*** 

For all that his conscious spares him memories of his old school, his subconscious is not so kind. Every night in his dreams, he bears witness to his past. He watches the first manifestation of his ability, later than the rest of his classmates. He watches the first golden glow of his eyes, the first moment he freezes time stopping a bully from throwing Will’s lunch to the ground. He witnesses his rise from the bottom as a cripple, to the top as King of Ealdor. He watches himself lose himself to newfound power, watches as he turns his school’s hierarchy upside down, and eventually destroys it all with his anger. He sees his brutal regime, no different from those he wished to fight in the first place. He watches the last stand of the Ealdor students against him, sees all of the students he sent to the hospital in critical condition. He hears the last words Will ever said to him echoing in his head.

_You Monster._

In the end, Will is the one he betrayed the most. Will was always there for him, even before his ability manifested. Will was his support system and his defender against the cruel reality of the hierarchy. Will only wanted Merlin to thrive, and Merlin repaid that loyalty with a hospitalization. 

And so, every day at Camelot is penance for his past. Every punch, kick, bruise, and broken bone is punishment for every one he himself gave in Ealdor, to every one he gave to Will. Because for Merlin, his ability comes too easily, his ability is too strong. He hasn’t been tested since middle school, but even then he was stronger than anyone else. Time manipulation is a powerful ability, and he is too weak of a person to have been cursed with it. So he plays at being the cripple in Camelot because he won’t put himself in a position of power. He won’t do anything to allow himself to become corrupted. 

He won’t allow himself to become the monster he was in Ealdor ever again. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing for Merlin, so please be gentle.
> 
> I consider Yoru Wa Nemurerukai? by flumpool to be the unofficial song of unOrdinary, so that’s where the title is from.
> 
> This au was born after reading unOrdinary Ep. 54, as I saw similarities between John and Merlin as the most powerful character hiding his powers in his daily life and taking on a low social status as a result (and also befriending a person in the highest social status). I put Merlin in the “John” position and Arthur in the “Seraphina” position (though I gave Merlin Seraphina’s ability). I have a whole tier and ability chart for all the Merlin characters sitting at the bottom of my notes that may or may not be eventually used.


End file.
